SEIKO Dolce Rectangular Champagne Dial 1981

A Seiko Dolce from 1981. Seiko launched Dolce in 1980 as its dress watch line, built around slim quartz cases and plain dials. This one is a rectangle with cut corners and finely ribbed sides, and the case is what sets it apart: the stepped flanks catch the light along their length, so the watch keeps a crisp outline even from a distance. The dial is champagne with a sandblasted finish, scattered with fine gold points that sparkle as the wrist moves. Inside is the quartz Cal.6030, with hours, minutes and a thin gold seconds hand. We fitted it with a black croc-embossed leather strap, not original to the watch, and it sits as comfortably with a suit as with a sweater.

The case is gold plated with a stainless steel back. There are light marks from use, but no major damage. It measures 28mm across (excluding crown) and 36mm lug to lug, with a 17mm lug width. The case is slim and the strap attaches beneath the body rather than on long lugs, so it lies flat on the wrist and slips under a shirt cuff without catching.

The champagne dial has a fine sandblasted grain, with applied gold baton markers lined in black and gold hands. Along the right-hand edge between one and three o'clock, and in places near the lower left edge, there is dark spotting from age. It is visible in the close-up photograph and stays at the outer edge, away from the centre. At arm's length the dial reads as an even, warm gold, and the grain gives it a soft glow that a polished dial does not have.

- wrist size in our picture is 17cm circumference -